Since I'm not an electrician, I need good advice . I'm wanting to get a  couple of 4 or 6 outlet cords with surge protection for electronic equipment, ie ,computer, TV  and the rest. Protection is rated by joules and I'm wondering how many joules protection are needed to protect this equipment . I have looked at cords rated at 1500 joules and others rated at 3600 joules.  Both have 14 ga wiring rated for 15 amp outlets.  What is recommended for reasonable protection. I know that whole house surge protection can be installed, but as of now it hasn't been installed in my home to my knowledge.

Edited January 2, 20188 yr by It Was Al B

i have several units by Tripplite (they make Isobar surge protectors)  https://www.tripplite.com/products/surge-protectors~19

similar to the following and have had good results from them.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 20188 yr by p_toad

Here are a couple of articles with joule information.

 

http://techunl.net/blog/surge-protection-how-many-joules-enough-protect-my-computer

http://onsitelogic.com/tag/minimum-joules-for-computer/

Thanks guys !  Very helpful information.  Years ago, when I was welding at the shipyard, after making repairs on a submarine hull, there were electronics hooked up to that part of the hull and a predetermined number of joules was introduced to that section to heat the hull to a predetermined temperature, I think 300 degrees F  for a  specific time period. This was done to insure the metallurgical grain structure of the weld and hull material were precisely   balanced.  

Hey Al..  What did they do back then when the Titanic went down due to bad steel?

Al, just got a sale "flyer" from our utility co. with a couple surge protectors listed:

https://www.georgiapowermarketplace.com

I have not shopped around to know whether those prices are good or not, but link provided for your info.

3 hours ago, Larry Jenkins said:

Hey Al..  What did they do back then when the Titanic went down due to bad steel?

 I guess the modern technology might not have made any difference Larry. The ship that they used the joule technology on was unfortunately the Submarine Thresher. I knew many of the crew members and shipyard workers aboard. Still no official cause for this catastrophy.

Cal, I went to HD and picked up one with 8 outlets providing 3600 joules of protection. $29.00

We had a presentation this morning from one of the guys in the woodworking club who is an electrician.   He did a presentation on surge protection.  Two three important points.

1. Surge protectors have a finite life and you get what you pay for -- 3-5 years for the medium quality MOV ones ($25-30).   The $6 ones are not worth it.  Next jump up  is series at $200-250.
2. Joules is not what you want to look at -- it's voltage protection rating that counts.
3. To be tested and certified it must be UL Listed.   They will add all sorts of other meaningless modifiers that don't mean anything (sort of like finishes )

Here's a copy of his presentation, plus an earlier one he did on general electrical safety

Surge Protectors - Gene Wiggs - Jan 2018-1.pdf

 

 

2017 Electrical Safety in the Shop - Gene Wiggs.pdf

 

Edited January 13, 20188 yr by kmealy

Thanks Keith. The unit I got at HD is rated UL 1449, 400V. I don't plan to spend $200.00 + for a surge protector unless it's a whole house protector.

 

23 minutes ago, It Was Al B said:

Thanks Keith. The unit I got at HD is rated UL 1449, 400V. I don't plan to spend $200.00 + for a surge protector unless it's a whole house protector.

 

 

Right.   He said those $200 ones are the ones used by his brother who works on organs, by a lot of the traveling bands to protect their $ music equipment and the $7000-9000 home theater systems that are professionally installed.   He says he has one (he's pretty anal about this electric stuff), to protect his computer and his wife's computer (and all her photos -- he cited cost of recovery).   Hence the last slide -- backup (your files).

That's part of the reason i have a UPS and a surge protector chained to my computer.   Had to replace the battery once on the UPS, but it was the best money i ever spent protecting my PC and associated equipment from power blips and outages. 

25 minutes ago, p_toad said:

Had to replace the battery once on the UPS,

 

look to emergency lighting batteries the next time...

better batteries for less money....